Mayfest 2025 - Constraints on Meaning
When and why are certain meanings missing?
Research
Research at our top-ranked department spans syntax, semantics, phonology, language acquisition, computational linguistics, psycholinguistics and neurolinguistics.
Connections between our core competencies are strong, with theoretical, experimental and computational work typically pursued in tandem.
A network of collaboration at all levels sustains a research climate that is both vigorous and friendly. Here new ideas develop in conversation, stimulated by the steady activity of our labs and research groups, frequent student meetings with faculty, regular talks by local and invited scholars and collaborations with the broader University of Maryland language science community, the largest and most integrated language science research community in North America.
Featured Research News
Relating Structure and Time in Linguistics and Psycholinguistics
Linguistics and psycholinguistics differ not in their topic but in their tools, and our choice of tools should be commensurate to the hypotheses we are testing. A case study of long-distance dependencies serves to illustrate the point.
Contributor(s): Colin PhillipsNon-ARHU Contributor(s):
Matt Wagers
Dates:
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Linguistics and psycholinguistics differ not in their topic but in their tools, and our choice of tools should be commensurate to the hypotheses we are testing. A case study of long-distance dependencies serves to illustrate the point.
Necessary Bias in Natural Language Learning
A computational model of grammar acquisition.
Non-ARHU Contributor(s): Lisa Pearl
Dates:
This dissertation investigates the mechanism of language acquisition given the boundary conditions provided by linguistic representation and the time course of acquisition. Exploration of the mechanism is vital once we consider the complexity of the system to be learned and the non-transparent relationship between the observable data and the underlying system. It is not enough to restrict the potential systems the learner could acquire, which can be done by defining a finite set of parameters the learner must set. Even supposing that the system is defined by n binary parameters, we must still explain how the learner converges on the correct system(s) out of the possible 2^n systems, using data that is often highly ambiguous and exception-filled. The main discovery from the case studies presented here is that learners can in fact succeed provided they are biased to only use a subset of the available input that is perceived as a cleaner representation of the underlying system. The case studies are embedded in a framework that conceptualizes language learning as three separable components, assuming that learning is the process of selecting the best-fit option given the available data. These components are (1) a defined hypothesis space, (2) a definition of the data used for learning (data intake), and (3) an algorithm that updates the learner's belief in the available hypotheses, based on data intake. One benefit of this framework is that components can be investigated individually. Moreover, defining the learning components in this somewhat abstract manner allows us to apply the framework to a range of language learning problems and linguistics domains. In addition, we can combine discrete linguistic representations with probabilistic methods and so account for the gradualness and variation in learning that human children display. The tool of exploration for these case studies is computational modeling, which proves itself very useful in addressing the feasibility, sufficiency, and necessity of data intake filtering since these questions would be very difficult to address with traditional experimental techniques. In addition, the results of computational modeling can generate predictions that can then be tested experimentally.
(Dis)Agree: Movement and Agreement Reconsidered
On the Agree relation in Minimalism.
Non-ARHU Contributor(s): Pritha Chandra
Dates:
This dissertation examines Agree, a narrow syntactic, long-distance operation underlying phi-agreement in the grammar. Taking the strong minimalist thesis (cf. Chomsky 2000) as my point of departure, I question Agree on both conceptual and empirical grounds. On the conceptual side, the operation is suspect first for its language-specific character. Second, it also fails to be justified on the grounds of general architectural constraints and legibility requirements. Further, evidences of various long-distance agreement from across languages examined here question the empirical basis for Agree built throughout the previous literature. As far as this is true, I contend that the faculty of language has nothing beyond Merge and Move/Internal Merge, the first being inevitable in any language-like system and the latter necessitated by interface exigencies. My purpose in this dissertation is to show that these two operations suffice to obtain phi-agreement in natural language.
Tracking Sound Dynamics in Human Auditory Cortex: New macroscopic perspectives from MEG
An MEG study of auditory perception.
Non-ARHU Contributor(s):Huan Luo
Dates:
Both the external world and our internal world are full of changing activities , and the question of how these two dynamic systems are linked constitutes the most intriguing and fundamental question in neuroscience and cognitive science. This study specifically investigates the processing and representation of sound dynamic information in human auditory cortex using magnetoencephalography (MEG), a non-invasive brain imaging technique whose high temporal resolution (on the order of ~1ms) makes it an appropriate tool for studying the neural correlates of dynamic auditory information. The other goal of this study is to understand the essence of the macroscopic activities reflected in non-invasive brain imaging experiments, specifically focusing on MEG. Invasive single-cell recordings in animals have yielded a large amount of information about how the brain works at a microscopic level. However, there still exist large gaps in our understanding of the relationship between the activities recorded at the microscopic level in animals and at the macroscopic level in humans, which have yet to be reconciled in terms of their different spatial scales and activities format, making a unified knowledge framework still unsuccessful. In this study, natural speech sentences and sounds containing speech-like temporal dynamic features are employed to probe the human auditory system. The recorded MEG signal is found to be well correlated with the stimulus dynamics via amplitude modulation (AM) and/or phase modulation (PM) mechanisms. Specifically, oscillations at various frequency bands are found to be the main information-carrying elements of the MEG signal, and the two major parameters of these endogenous brain rhythms, amplitude and phase, are modulated by incoming sensory stimulus dynamics, corresponding to AM and PM mechanism, to track sound dynamics. Crucially, such modulation tracking is found to be correlated with human perception and behavior. This study suggests that these two dynamic and complex systems, the external and internal worlds, systematically communicate and are coupled via modulation mechanism, leading to a reverberating flow of information embedded in oscillating waves in human cortex. The results also have implications for brain imaging studies, suggesting that these recorded macroscopic activities reflect brain state, the more close neural correlate of high-level cognitive behavior.
Syntactic prediction and lexical frequency effects in sentence processing
Three experiments examining the effect of lexical surface frequency on sentence processing and the interaction between surface frequency and syntactic prediction.
Non-ARHU Contributor(s):Katya Rozanova
Dates:
Publisher: University of Maryland Working Papers
Publisher: University of Maryland Working Papers
This paper presents three experiments which examine the effect of lexical surface frequency on sentence processing and the interaction between surface frequency and syntactic prediction. The first two experiments make use of the self-paced reading paradigm to show that processing time differences due to surface frequency (e.g., the frequency of cats not including occurrences of cat), which have previously been demonstrated in isolated word tasks like lexical decision, also give rise to reaction time differences in sentence processing tasks, in this case for singular and plural English nouns. The second experiment investigates whether a prediction for the number morpheme triggered by the number-marked determiners this and these might counter the surface frequency effect; however, the small size of the surface frequency effect and baseline differences in reaction times to this and these made the results unclear. Results from a third experiment using lexical decision suggest that the difference in the size of the surface frequency effects between the lexical decision experiments and the self-paced-reading experiments are likely due to differences in task demands. Our results have methodological implications for psycholinguistic experiments that manipulate morphology as a means of examining other questions of interest.
Some theoretical issues in Japanese control
Control in Japanese.
Non-ARHU Contributor(s):Tomohiro Fujii
Dates:
The aim of this thesis is to contribute to the understanding of the nature of finiteness and A-movement by looking at control phenomena in Japanese, where verbal morphology sometimes does not help to identify finiteness of clauses. In so doing, the thesis addresses empirical and theoretical questions that arise from analyses of Japanese control and attempts to resolve them. The first part of the thesis, chapter 2, investigates obligatory control (OC) into tensed clauses, where embedded predicates are morphosyntactically marked for tense. Recent findings about the obligatory control/non-obligatory control dichotomy leads to the observation that tensed subordinate clauses that either cannot support past tense or present tense trigger OC and raising. It is proposed that this effect comes from the defective nature of T of such clauses and that this nonfinite T triggers OC and raising. It is shown then that the movement theory of control facilitates to instantiate this proposal and to give a principled account of a wide range of the data. Chapter 3 concerns issues of controller choice with special reference to embedded mood constructions, where mood markers are overtly realized. It is observed that controller choice is systematically correlated with the mood interpretation of complement clauses. While Japanese allows split control in the exhortative mood construction, the language lacks the mood maker that should exist if subject control over intervening objects were possible. The lack of the nonexistent mood marker is derived by the Principle of Minimal Distance. Also, a preliminary movement-based analysis is given to the actual distribution of split control. The final chapter aims to provide an empirical argument for selecting a movement theory of control over PRO-based theories by closely examining backward control and related constructions. While establishing that backward obligatory control exists in Japanese, the chapter shows that the data argue for a copy theory of movement, combined with a particular theory of chain linearization. The hypothesis that economy plays a crucial role in determining how to pronounce chains is shown to explain properties of the classic Harada/Kuroda style analysis of Counter Equi.
Constraints and Mechanisms in Long-Distance Dependency Formation
Predictive parsing of long-distance dependencies in Japanese.
Non-ARHU Contributor(s): Masaya Yoshida
Dates:
This thesis aims to reveal the mechanisms and constraints involving in long-distance dependency formation in the static knowledge of language and in real-time sentence processing. Special attention is paid to the grammar and processing of island constraints. Several experiments show that in a head-final language like Japanese global constraints like island constraints are applied long before decisive information such as verb heads and relative heads, are encountered. Based on this observation, the thesis argues that there is a powerful predictive mechanism at work behind real time sentence processing. A model of this predictive mechanism is proposed. This thesis examines the nature of several island constraints, specifically Complex NP Islands induced by relative clauses, and clausal adjunct islands. It is argued that in the majority of languages, both relative clauses and adjunct clauses are islands, but there is a small subset of languages (including Japanese, Korean and Malayalam) where extraction out of adjunct clauses seems to be allowed. Applying well-established syntactic tests to the necessary constructions in Japanese, it is established that dependencies crossing adjunct clauses are indeed created by movement operations, and still the extraction is allowed from adjuncts. Building on previous findings, the thesis turns to the investigation of the interaction between real time sentence processing and island constraints. Looking specifically at Japanese, a head-final language this thesis ask how the structure of sentences are built and what constraints are applied to the structure building process. A series of experiments shows that in Japanese, even before high-information bearing units such as verbs, relative heads or adjunct markers are encountered, the structural skeleton is built, and such pre-computed structures are highly articulated. It is shown that structural constraints on long-distance dependencies are imposed on the pre-built structure. It is further shown that this finding support the incrementality of sentence processing.
The Real-Time Status of Island Phenomena
Are all syntactic islands an epiphenomenon of performance constraints, or are some a direct expression of the competence grammar? Colin Phillips provides support for the latter view, with reading time studies of parasitic gap constructions.
Contributor(s): Colin Phillips
Dates:
In parasitic-gap constructions an illicit gap inside a syntactic island becomes acceptable in combination with an additional licit gap, a result that has interesting implications for theories of grammar. Such constructions hold even greater interest for the question of the relation between grammatical knowledge and real-time language processing. This article presents results from two experiments on parasitic-gap constructions in English in which the parasitic gap appears inside a subject island, before the licensing gap. An offline study confirms that parasitic gaps are acceptable when they occur inside theinfinitival complement of a subject NP, but not when they occur inside a finite relative clause. An on-line self-paced reading study using a plausibility manipulation technique shows that incremental positing of gaps inside islands occurs in just those environments where parasitic gaps are acceptable. The fact that parasitic gaps are constructed incrementally in language processing presents a challenge for attempts to explain subject islands as epiphenomena of constraints on language processing and also helps to resolve apparent conflicts in previous studies of the role of island constraints in parsing.
An Investigation of Exclamatives in English and Japanese: Syntax and Sentence Processing
What a thesis! The syntax of exclamatives in English and Japanese.
Non-ARHU Contributor(s): Hajime Ono
Dates:
This dissertation is a case study of the syntax of the left periphery, using exclamatives in English and Japanese. In the first part, I discuss exclamatives in Japanese in detail by focusing on the properties of the exclamative wh-phrases and particles that function as licensors for wh-phrases in exclamatives. We argue that licensing exclamatives involves at least three functional heads: Finite, Focus, and Mood. Especially, the necessity of the Mood head differentiates exclamatives from interrogatives. On the other hand, we claim that having these three functional projections does not type the clause as exclamative, and show that the presence of a wh-phrase of a distinct form is in fact a crucial part of the clause-typing for exclamation. This conclusion supports the claim that clause type should not be directly encoded into syntax as an independent functional category. The second part of dissertation deals with English exclamatives. We show that sluicing is available in English exclamatives, suggesting that focus is playing a role for the availability of sluicing, assuming that both interrogatives and exclamatives involve focus. Another conclusion about English exclamatives is that exclamative wh-clauses are licensed, not by selection, but by being c-commanded by a factive operator or a factive predicate. This goes against the traditional observation; our conclusion is empirically justified based on the observation that it is possible to license exclamative wh-clauses by a non-local licensor. We argue that this property is similar to what has been observed for the aggressively non-D-linked wh-phrases, accounting for the distribution and behavior of those non-standard wh-phrases. Finally, we investigate how Japanese exclamatives are processed by native speakers of Japanese with an on-line self-paced reading study and two off-line sentence fragment completion studies on the processing of wh-exclamative sentences in Japanese. These studies investigate the real-time formation of sentential structures with higher functional categories, and show that the parser immediately engages to build syntactic structures with discourse-oriented higher functional projections before coming across the head, favoring the incremental processing model.
The structure of comparison: An investigation of gradable adjectives
A neo-Davidsonian semantics for gradable adjectives and their phrases.
Non-ARHU Contributor(s):Scott Fults
Dates:
This dissertation explores the syntax and semantics of positive and comparative gradable adjectives. A detailed study of intransitive (*tall*) and transitive (*patient with Mary*) adjectives is provided with special emphasis on phrases that express the standard of comparison, such as tall for a jockey, tall compared to Bill, and taller than Bill. It is shown that standard expressions, surprisingly, behave differently both syntactically and semantically. There are four main conclusions. First, a syntactic analysis is provided in which all standard expressions are introduced by unique degree morphemes in the extended projection of the adjective. Each morpheme and the standard expression that it introduces is ordered such that for-PP's are introduced just above the adjective, followed by compared-to phrases and then comparatives. Thematic-PP's which denote the object of transitive adjectives are shown to be introduced in the extended projections as well, but interestingly, they are introduced between the for-PP and the compared-to phrase. Second, a neo-Davidsonian, event-style analysis is provided that completely separates the internal and external arguments of adjectives. Instead, gradable adjectives are treated as predicates of events (or states), simply. Arguments of the adjective are assigned theta-roles in the syntax and are integrated into the logical form through via conjunction. Third, all other parts of the meanings of positive and comparative adjectives are put into the denotation of the degree morphemes. This includes the comparison relation and the measure function. Thus, gradable adjectives are treated as the same semantic type as other adjectives and other predicates. And fourth, it is shown that positive adjectives are fundamentally different from comparative adjectives in a semantic sense. This is surprising because standard semantic theories of positives treat them as implicit comparatives. The primary difference is that positives are vague in a way that comparatives are not. It is shown that the difference is not a matter of context dependence as suggested in Fara (2000). Instead, it is suggested that the comparative morpheme is responsible for this difference. Therefore, grammatical processes can interact with vagueness in at least one way; they can reduce it.